Cohabitation and Romantic Entanglements
by MBlacktalon
Summary: If Annie thought she could keep a secret from an overzealous former-anarchist psychologist, she had another thing coming. A semi-AU season 6 pushing into currently-absent-from-season-6-canon Jeff/Annie stuff - plus some general opinion-based stuff regarding new episodes - with chapters (eventually) covering each weekly episode release.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Hi again all. Checking in now that Season 6 is underway. This is kind of a… non-canon companion to the season with AU elements, or something? I don't know exactly how that works. Call it wish fulfillment I guess. Anyway, this is stepping heavily into Jeff/Annie, because there hasn't been a lot of it so far, and that's a little sad. This chapter is going up a couple of days after 603 has aired – I'm about half way through another chapter set after that, and I'll probably be continuing this thing throughout the season._

_So, before we start…_

_~SPOILERS AHEAD FOR 601/602~_

_You've been warned._

_Obviously we all have a good idea what's going on with Annie, but Britta doesn't. So shhh, don't spoil it for her, and enjoy :)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Community._

* * *

The sun was just beginning to set on Friday evening, and Britta found herself once again sitting down to watch a movie with Annie and Abed. When they'd announced roommate movie night on her first day, she'd assumed that it was some kind of special occasion deal. The fact that they had watched a movie every night so far, along with Abed's multiple midday viewings, seemed to disprove that theory.

Britta yawned loudly and stretched her neck. She'd learned that her two friends were not normal people when it came to sleep cycles. In her old apartment, she would crash anywhere between eleven and one, and wake up when she woke up. Not here. Annie had the lights out by ten, and started the day at six on the dot. Abed spent most of the night working on projects in his room, which was fine for Annie in her enclosed bedroom, but not so much for someone sleeping in the living room. Britta had barely slept fifteen hours in the last three days.

But if there was one thing Britta had learned the most over the past few days of living with Annie and Abed, it was that she was _not_ a tidy person. She'd always known she was a little lazy with her housework, but who isn't, right? A few extra plates on the sink never hurt anyone.

Except for Annie, apparently, who was hard at work on today's third load of noodle-coated dishes. But hey, if Annie wanted to watch Mean Girls while wrist deep in soapy water, that was her business.

Britta grabbed a chip from the bowl in her lap as Janis talked Cady through the cafeteria seating. Apparently she also rustled chip packets too loudly, which had prompted Abed to pour all of her Let's onto the floor two days ago for interrupting Blade Runner's Tears in Rain speech – a mess that Annie had insisted on cleaning up right away, effectively ending that movie night. Now Britta ate out of the mixing bowl.

"Britta, I'm going to need that bowl before I'm done here." Annie called from the kitchen. "We're not leaving it dirty all night."

Britta made a face. "Yes mom," she muttered, offering some chips to Abed, who was eyeing her curiously.

"Have you been working on your expressions over the break?" he asked curiously, taking a handful. "Your face seems more emotive since we came back."

"Have you been working on your meta-ness?" she retorted. "You haven't made this many references to 'our show' since first year."

"It's a conscious effort. A lot's different this year, and we need to consolidate our roles in the group. I'm expecting something from Annie soon, or she's going to risk losing quirks to Frankie."

Annie placed another fork onto the drying rack. "No one's competing for quirks Abed," she said, "and if any of us were going to be worried about Frankie, it'd be you."

He tilted his head thoughtfully.

"Just ask Jeff, he's already referring to her as 'the new Abed'."

"When did he say that?" Britta asked Annie, walking the now empty bowl over to the kitchen.

"Oh, you know, during a meeting or something, probably."

"I guess I missed that. Was that on Monday?" Britta dropped the bowl into the sink, causing dirty water to splash over the already clean dishes.

Annie gave her a death stare. "Just for that, you can finish up the rest of this. I've got to get ready."

Britta rolled her eyes. When she'd discovered that the apartment had no dishwasher, she had immediately opted herself out of dishes duty entirely. It had left her with taking out the trash each night, but it was better than putting your hands into gross rubber gloves, shoving them into burning water, and touching slimy half-eaten noodles. Trust Annie to find a way to get her to have a turn anyw…

"Wait, you're going out? Where? Why?" She squinted suspiciously. "With who?" Now that she thought about it, Annie hadn't eaten anything earlier.

Annie shrugged innocently and pulled her gloves off, leaving them hanging from the side of the sink. "It's nothing really. Just catching up with some old friends from work."

"Friends that you 'catch up with' every week." Abed stated from his seat, his eyes fixed firmly on the TV screen.

Britta smirked as Annie muttered, "Thanks Abed," and walked to her bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her.

"So it's a date then, right? How long have you been seeing him? Is it serious? Did you sleep with him yet? Do we know him? Is that why it's a secret?"

She heard a draw opening and closing. "Britta, I'm not telling you anything, and pestering me won't help. This isn't like that Rich thing."

"Oh my god, is it Rich?! Jeff will _hate_ that."

"NO! No. Nothing to do with Rich. He hasn't even been at Greendale since back when the Black River Ripper was still on the loose."

The door opened, and Annie emerged holding a bundle of clothes that were… hmm. Strangely casual for a date.

"Now, I'm going to have a shower, and then I'll be leaving. You and Abed will enjoy the movie, and you will not ask me anything else about where I'm going because I'm 24 and I don't have to explain myself."

With that she stepped around Britta and stormed into the bathroom.

Britta walked over and slumped into her seat next to Abed. "Sheesh, what's her problem?"

"Nothing really. She's just making a big scene to take your mind off finding out about her secret boyfriend."

She grabbed the control and hit pause, turning to face him. "So there _is _a secret boyfriend? Do you know who it is? Are you guys keeping secrets from me _again_?"

Abed sighed and turned away from the hilarious mid-speech expression frozen on Lindsay Lohan's face. "I know certain things, yes, but I'm under a strict oath that prevents me from telling you a lot of them. I can't answer anything until I check with Annie." His eyes flickered to the remote on the table between them, clearly impatient to restart the movie.

So Britta removed the batteries.

"Listen Abed. I know you don't like romantic plot lines, but gossip is a girl thing, okay? You know that as well as I do. We can start the movie again once I have the information I need."

Abed seemed to consider that, before reaching down underneath his seat and pulling out a second completely identical remote. "Always have a backup. As I said, let me speak to Annie first. We're straying close to the edge here, and I wouldn't want to reveal anything she doesn't want you to know."

"Fine. Play the stupid movie."

It was a good half an hour before Annie stepped back out of the bathroom wearing a pair of jeans and a pink sweater. She didn't even have any more makeup on than usual. Which was weird for a date, right?

Abed hopped up from his seat and quickly steered Annie to the corner, the two of them whispering and stealing quick glances at Britta. She couldn't make out much of it – something about 'Britta', 'questions', and 'Sunday'.

"Okay, I'm leaving now." Annie announced, heading for the front door as Abed returned to his seat. Abed waved a hand in acknowledgement, and restarted the movie.

Annie probably wouldn't answer any more questions, but hopefully Abed would in a minute, so Britta went with the second thing on her mind. "Oh, Annie – will you be back late? It's just, you'll probably wake me up walking straight past the couch into your room."

"I wouldn't worry about that." Annie replied with a quick smile, as she closed the door behind her.

"Abed. Abed. What did she mean by that?"

He seemed reluctant to pause the movie again. "She means that it won't be a problem."

Britta gave him the stoniest glare she could muster. "Abed, I will pull that disk out of the player and snap it in half right in front of you if you don't give me a real answer."

He paused the movie.

"When Annie goes out on Friday night, she usually isn't back until Sunday evening." He stared at her, as if waiting for a response.

Wow, so it _was_ serious. Annie was spending whole weekends with this guy. And she hadn't taken a change of clothes with her, which meant everything she needed was at his place. Which is like halfway towards moving in. Probably. Britta didn't have a lot of experience with relationships reaching that level of commitment. And Annie hadn't told anyone? Well, except Abed. Did Jeff know too? Were they leaving Britta out again? This was raising even more questions.

"So… you said usually." She began cautiously. "How many weekends has this been going on for?"

"Since April twenty seventh last year."

"What?! For almost a whole year? That was like, the week after the whole Subway thing! Why didn't she tell me?"

"Well it was off-season." He said matter-of-factly. "We don't tend to share any developments during that time. I only found out because she lives here."

It was a little upsetting that Annie hadn't confided in her. With Shirley gone, they were supposed to be best girlfriends now. And girlfriends shared stuff like this. Probably.

"Okay, so… Did you two decide what questions I can ask?"

He shrugged. "You can ask whatever you want. But we decided what I can answer, yes."

"Do I know him?"

"Britta. We aren't playing twenty questions. I can't answer anything that will help you narrow down who the guy is. Annie was very specific on that. When she wants you to know who it is, she'll tell you."

Well, that was going to make this a little more difficult. Going through hair colors had been one of the pillars of Britta's strategy. But she was a psych major – words were her weapons, and as much as Abed acted like a robot, he could let information slip just as easily as anyone else.

"Does Jeff know who it is?"

"No. And that's actually something important. You can't tell him about this. At all. No hinting at what a _wonderful_ weekend Annie must have had, no snide glances, nothing. When we're at group meetings, for all intents and purposes, Annie sat at home watching movies with us all weekend."

That made her feel a little better actually. Being the only one left out of a year-long conspiracy would have been almost as bad as finding out about her parents.

"So it's someone Jeff would disapprove of then?" She studied Abed closely. "No, wait, Jeff disapproves of anyone Annie dates. Never mind."

He continued to watch her. It was a little creepy.

"Is he tall? Oh, I can't ask that either…"

She had been hoping for some kind of reaction from Abed. Something on his face, _anything_ she could use to judge the answers to questions she wasn't allowed to ask. But he was giving her nothing. He should really take up poker or something. In fact, she could probably take him to the casino this weekend. She could use a few thousand dollars to pay back her parents, and if he was… No, focus.

"It's serious, right? I mean, she's spending the whole weekend there, she obviously has clothes at his place…"

"Probably. It's been a year after all. And she never actually said it, but I think part of having you stay here was to get me used to you being here instead of her. I wouldn't be surprised if she's moved out of here by the end of the semester. I've heard her say 'I love you' over the phone, and they've definitely had a lot of sex, because when she comes home she usually…"

Britta pretty much tuned the rest of it out. Abed going on and on about how happy Annie was in her totally serious relationship wasn't something she needed to hear a lot of, and it didn't look like she'd be getting any more useful information out of him anyway. She was going to have to do some hands-on investigating.

"Okay! Thanks Abed," she interrupted, "that's all I needed to know. Let's get back to the movie."

He smiled and nodded, clearly happy to end that conversation.

Britta turned her head back the screen, only slightly paying attention to the film. She was going to find out who this guy was, trust between friends be damned. That boat had sailed when they'd befriended her parents. If Annie thought she could keep a secret from an overzealous former-anarchist psychologist, she had another thing coming.

* * *

"Britta's probably quizzing Abed right now you know." Annie called into the kitchen, curling up into her corner of the couch. "I bet he's having a _great_ time."

"You think she'll be able to work it out?" Jeff replied, stirring the spaghetti. It wasn't the fanciest of meals, but it was part of the pattern they'd fallen into. He'd cook something on Friday (not because Annie couldn't cook; because Annie cooked for Abed, and now Britta, every night), and they'd grab some take-out on Saturday. Today happened to be Italian. The fact that they had a routine should have scared him. The whole thing was getting very domestic – it had been for months now. But he didn't mind at all.

"Not from anything Abed says. When he wants to keep a secret, he keeps it, and having both of us dress up and go with him to the midnight premiere of Star Wars is a pretty good motivation."

He spooned the food onto a pair of plates. "I still don't know how you got me to agree to that."

"Please, you would have been going anyway." She shot him a bright smile. That right there was how she'd gotten him to agree to it. He thought she'd been convincing before, but he had no resistance now that they were together. He didn't really mind that either.

"Oh, and don't worry about Britta saying anything," Annie continued, nodding her thanks as he handed her a plate and sat down next to her. "She's going to be under the impression that you have no idea about me dating anyone, and that it needs to be a secret."

He raised an eyebrow. "What, worried I might slip up? I can keep secrets just as well as Abed."

"Sure. Except if Britta brings up the fact that I'm dating someone, she's going to expect you to fly into a fit of jealousy, not just smile contentedly like you're doing right now."

He wiped the smile off his face, causing a smirk to form on hers. "Better safe than sorry I guess. But fit of jealously, really?"

It was Annie's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine. Fit of jealousy it is. Now do you want to watch JAG, or do you want to keep talking about Britta?"

They'd discovered pretty early on that they both had a secret love for crime shows. Despite the clichés and the fairly obvious plots, something managed to keep both of them coming back for more. Their law and criminology interests probably had something to do with it. And between Jeff's box sets of Law &amp; Order and JAG, Annie's NCIS and Sherlock, and Shirley's hundred and sixty six episodes of Bones, they would probably be set for the next few years.

Shirley's little gift to them had been unexpected to say the least, and Jeff was sure Britta would get a kick out of the story when they got around to telling her.

_The going away party had been low key to avoid tipping off Abed. Shirley had agreed that it was in everyone's best interests not to tell him, but she'd insisted on recording a goodbye on video to show to him later anyway. They'd met up at Shirley's place about a month after the Subway incident to find Andre and the boys already there. The two of them hadn't fixed everything, but they were working on it for the sake of the kids, and with Shirley leaving for at least a few months, they'd all come out to join the farewell._

_There weren't any adventures or escapades. They didn't play timeline-altering Yahtzee. It was just a bunch of friends eating and talking around a table, with Jeff and Annie trying to avoid tipping anyone off about what was, at that stage, a fairly new development in their relationship. _

_When it had come time for gifts, the group went first. Britta had actually managed to put some thought into her gift of Christmas-shaped cookie cutters, even if her minimum wage wasn't enough to afford anything more. Annie had gone all out with a 'history of the group' scrapbook. Calling it a scrapbook may have been selling it short though, considering the two hundred page length. It was closer to an encyclopedia. Of course Annie had roped Jeff into spending some of their nights helping her out with it, but they'd agreed that giving one gift between them might be a bit suspicious. In the end, Annie had chipped in for the complete season's 1-9 of Bones. _

_Shirley had chuckled when Jeff handed that over, explaining that Andre had just returned the files from her DVR earlier that day. Jeff had been a little put out at that – remembering something Shirley had said over four months ago was a big step in his gift giving. But Shirley loved it anyway, and once she'd cheered Jeff up, the party went back into full swing._

_It was a few hours later, after Andre had taken the boys home to get them to bed, and Britta had just ducked out the door, when Shirley had approached Jeff and Annie. She had explained that she already knew what was going on – it didn't take a genius to work out who had been the reason for what in that lab. Jeff had braced himself for a lecture, but he was pleasantly surprised by a big hug. Apparently Shirley had been rooting for them for years now, and she was just happy it had happened before she had to leave. They'd talked for a while, and as they were leaving, Shirley had given them the portable hard drive with her recorded episodes on it, with the stipulation that they watch them together and think of her. Annie had teared up at that, and Jeff might have been a little choked up as well – at least he would have been if he wasn't sure that Shirley would be back. Because she would, eventually._

Jeff was broken from his reverie by Annie snuggling into his side. For such a small person, she sure could wolf down a meal. He shifted a little to get comfortable, and draped his arm around her shoulders. He'd never actually admit it to anyone, but just… _this_… was just as great as any of the stuff he'd done with any of his past flings. Not that sex with Annie wasn't great – it totally was. They'd spent most of their first week in bed, both of them playing out fantasies that had lain dormant for years. But you can't build an entire relationship on that alone, and thankfully they'd both found that all of the other stuff came pretty easily too.

It wasn't always perfect. They had fights just like any other couple. But it's hard to do any real damage when you're building off of five years of close friendship and definitive, scientific proof of love.

"So," Jeff said, breaking the comfortable silence between them. "Did you talk to Abed about you moving in here eventually?"

Annie sighed as the show continued in the background. "Not yet. I get close to asking him about it, and then he says something about how sad he is that Troy isn't in the apartment anymore. I'm starting to suspect he knows what I'm going to say, and he just wants to drag out my living there as long as possible."

"He'll get used to Britta eventually. I'm sure she'd love to take your room too." He paused. "We're going to have to tell her before then. You know, about us."

"Yeah. We just need to wait for the dust to settle from this whole parents thing. When she finds out that everyone except for her has known about this for almost a year, it's going to be hard enough without all of that hanging over her head."

They usually fit in a good four episodes a night, but they were back at Greendale now. That meant longer hours of work for Annie, and some actual hours for Jeff, so by the end of the second they had already started yawning periodically.

"Do you want to push through another one, or just call it a night?" Jeff asked.

Annie grinned mischievously. "What's the matter Winger, a little lethargic in your old age?"

He feigned offense, and then shrugged. "You know what, maybe I am Edison. I guess I'd better go straight to sleep them." he said, standing and heading slowly towards the bedroom.

"Oh no you don't. That would break our deal." Annie replied, pulling the disk from the player and putting the case back in its correct position. "If I remember correctly, you said, 'If we only get two nights together a week, you can bet we'll be making them count'. I think you owe me a little more than spaghetti and TV."

Jeff shook his head. "Out-lawyered again. You could probably give Harm a run for his money." He stepped over to her and kissed her lightly. "Well, I guess if I don't have a choice, then…"

She smiled as she pulled away a few inches. "Shut up, you love it."

He smiled back. "I do. Now," he began, gesturing towards the bedroom door, "Milady?"

"Milord."


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Hi again. So this is coming up pretty fast after the first chapter – they won't be this frequent in the future, I'm aiming to do a chapter for each new episode. I just had to catch up. _

_As before… _

_~SPOILERS AHEAD FOR 603~_

_You've been warned. _

_So I wasn't completely happy with Annie in this episode. For some reason the writers decided that Annie would decide, within 4 hours and while sleep deprived, that she should transfer to City College. Just like she did back in season 2 episode 4 with the space bus. That's not cool. Annie has stuck with Greendale throughout all of its crazy stuff for over 5 years now. She wouldn't abandon the school and her friends just because Greendale gave a degree to a dog, regardless of how much that would undercut all of her efforts. She'd help find a solution to the problem._

_They also decided to not have Jeff follow Annie when she walked out. That spot is where this picks up, with some adjustments to how the episode reaches it's ending, before we get back into the 'new' stuff._

_As always, enjoy :)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Community any more than I did in the last chapter._

* * *

Annie pulled her magnetic pen holders from the door of her locker and shoved them angrily into her bag. Stupid Greendale. Stupid friends. Stupid Frankie.

Stupid Jeff.

How could they do that to her? Greendale gave a degree to a _dog_. A _dog_. And they want to defend that by, what? Not trying to find a clerical error, not trying to justify it, but attacking the character of the DOG! What was this, children's television? Greendale had always been weird, but this was pushing it too far, and… and…

She had a headache. Annie was used to a strict sleep cycle. Staying up late to finish papers was always accounted for and planned in advance. This had been out of the blue, and she was running on exactly zero hours of rest in the last 36 hours.

She rested her head against the cold metal. Headache be damned, this was the last straw… right? She'd put up with all the blow off classes, she'd ignored the anus flag, and she'd seen a list of janitorial jobs going back to 2004. But Greendale was supposed to be better than this now.

Only her argument ran out there. Because it was. Greendale was improving. Just because the whole dog thing came up today didn't mean that it was still a problem. Ruffles 'graduated' in 2008 – Annie hadn't even been here then. It didn't devalue any of her years of hard work, and it wouldn't happen in today's Greendale. Probably. Maybe that was their answer right there.

Annie sighed as she heard a familiar gait approaching. As much as she might have overreacted to the situation, it still hurt a little that Jeff didn't say anything when she'd left.

"Look Annie, I'm sorry." Well, that was a decent start. "I shouldn't have just let you walk out like that. That's not something friends do, let alone… you know."

She smiled at that.

"And you were right. Mostly. Greendale has been a toilet for years, but it's finally starting to turn around. If we have to bring it back to where it was five years ago to keep it alive, we might as well not bother with any of this. Greendale is our home – it's where we met the group, and it's where I met you. It deserves better than a slanderous video attacking a dog's sexual history." He grimaced. "Wow. That sounds even sillier when you say it out loud."

Annie chuckled, and moved into a hug. "I don't think I'm even really that mad anymore. Just tired mostly."

"Hey, you're the one that called us out here at three in the morning."

"You know the silliest thing?" she mumbled into his shoulder.

"Literally everything that's happened today?"

"Well yeah. But I was about to leave Greendale for good, just because of a dumb dog that I've never even seen before."

He hummed thoughtfully. "You're right, that probably _is_ the silliest thing."

"Jeff." She stepped back and aimed a slap at his chest, but he caught her hand.

His face was serious now. "We're good right?"

"We're fine Jeff. Remember what you said? 'It's hard to do any real damage when you're building off of five years of close friendship and definitive, scientific proof of love'?"

"I said that?" He looked confused. "I thought that was internal monologue."

"Maybe it was, and I can read minds."

"Do you know what I'm thinking right now?"

"Uhh… You thought it was hot when I was yelling at you before?"

He squinted at her suspiciously, and she gave him a bright smile in return.

"But we should probably get back before everyone… well, before Britta gets suspicious."

He nodded, and turned them back down the hallway. "So, do you have any ideas about how we can get the school out of this mess _without_ acting like raving lunatics?"

"Just before you showed up actually, yeah. We're going to need to find that dog, and Abed will need his camera. Oh, and you should probably let go of my hand before we head back in."

"Right."

The clock had just ticked over to six when, after twenty seven takes, they'd finally settled on one Abed was happy with. It wasn't perfect, but it was as good as it would be. Never work with animals or children isn't just a saying.

It had taken some convincing to get KZBC to run Greendale's add before City College's. They'd finally agreed in exchange for a live interview with the one and only Elroy Patashnik - apparently he had quite an international following, who would boost the network's site traffic or something.

Annie had convinced everyone that simply owning up to the fact would be the best move in the long run. Entering into a mud-slinging match with City College wouldn't end well for either school. And no dog as cute as Ruffles (or, the dog that looked similar that they'd found eating garbage outside) should have to be a part of that.

And so the group found themselves sitting in the student lounge in their pajamas, Britta passed out on the floor, watching television as students began to trickle in to start the day.

"You guys, I knew we could find a way to do this honestly." Annie said, smiling at the weary faces around her.

"You hoped!" Frankie said, rubbing her eyes to keep herself away.

"I hoped, and it worked!"

"Hope… points…"

"Hope points!"

"You do understand that what we did was also just the most prudent tactical move. Getting in front of the scandal, Letterman style." Jeff said, smirking at her enthusiasm.

"Yes Jeff, don't worry. I promise I'll never mistake you for having a heart."

Neither of them saw Frankie roll her eyes as they smiled fondly at each other. It was lucky Britta wasn't conscious really.

"Well I don't know about all of you, but some of us need our beauty sleep." Elroy said, stretching as he stood up. He gestured to Britta. "Tell her... tell her she can keep the pants."

Abed shook Britta awake as everyone stood up slowly.

"I think in light of the events of last night, it would be okay for you guys to have the day off." the Dean yawned out. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Jeffrey." He finished with an obvious leer and left, leaving Jeff even more confused than earlier.

"You coming Annie?" Britta called from the exit, leaning heavily on Abed's shoulder.

"Oh, uhh…" She looked to Jeff for an excuse to stay, but it was Frankie who responded first.

"I was actually doing to take Annie out for a drink to celebrate. I'll drop her off later on."

"Oh okay, have fun." Britta slurred, as Abed steered her out the door, giving Annie a confused look.

Annie shrugged apologetically at Jeff, and turned to Frankie. "So, you wanted to…"

"Oh, no I never drink. Anything that reduces brain function is something I try to stay well away from - drugs, alcohol, YouTube comments sections, you know. I just assumed that the two of you were looking for an excuse to slip out for some quick make-up sex, so I provided one."

"Umm."

"And don't worry. I assume that Britta doesn't know for a reason, probably your complicated romantic histories, so I won't say anything. You might want to let her know soon though."

"Umm."

"So, I'll let you get onto that, and I'll see you bright and early for the meeting tomorrow." With that, she picked up her bag and headed towards the corridor.

Jeff was the first to recover. "Uhh, so when did you figure it out?"

Frankie paused and turned back around. "Anyone paying attention could have figured it out today. But it wasn't too hard to pick up on. Between the four of you, at least one romantic pairing is very likely, and since none of you are gay from what I can see, that only leaves so many options. Annie and Abed are more like brother and sister, and you and Britta aren't stable enough to have anything work. I haven't seen Abed and Britta interact anything like that, which leave you two."

"So you just assumed we were together based on that?" Annie asked.

"At first, yes. It's not hard to tell from the way you interact though. I assume the Dean hasn't picked up on it because of his obvious bias, and the thought hasn't even entered Britta's mind yet. Now, I've got some invoices to email, and I need to set up Elroy's interview. If you'll excuse me."

With that, she walked out, leaving Jeff and Annie slightly shocked.

"So…" Annie began. "Are we really that obvious?"

"Well, Britta hasn't picked up on it yet, so it can't be that bad right? Frankie's just stupidly observant, like Abed." Jeff shrugged. "I did like her suggestion though."

"I think you owe me some breakfast first." She smiled. "I'm in the mood for some pancakes."

"You know I hate breakfast food."

"Get a fruit salad then, I don't care. I just need some syrup."

"Fine. But make-up sex after, right?"

"Right."

It wasn't until they were halfway through their meal that Annie realized she was in her pajamas in public.

* * *

When Britta finally woke up at eleven in the morning, her first thought was that she wasn't as hungover as she had been expecting. It was still bad, but the fact that she wasn't completely blinded by the light streaming in through the open window was a good sign. Abed must have forced some water into her when they'd arrived home.

She staggered over to the kitchen and climbed onto a chair to reach the painkillers. Annie insisted on keeping them on the very top shelf, probably out of habit, which meant that it took a lot of physical work to relieve a headache. Not the best thing when you aren't feeling great. Britta would have to look into creating a stash somewhere.

The tapping of a keyboard told her that Abed was working in his room, so she flopped down onto the couch and turned on the TV. There was usually something decent on CSPAN around now. She liked to make an exercise of debating any and every point brought up. It's not like she called in or anything, but it was a decent way to waste a few hours.

That's when Britta came to her second real thought of the morning. She didn't have her phone. It wasn't on the pullout, it wasn't on the table, and it wasn't in her… pockets. These weren't her pockets. These pants were several sizes too large and held up by nothing more than a drawstring. Had she lost her pants somewhere?

Oh god. It all came rushing back. She had… And her pants were… Crap.

She got up and knocked lightly on Abed's door. "Hey, Abed? You wouldn't happen to have my phone in here would you?"

He kept typing. "Nope. Did you have it this morning?"

"I had it last night at the bar, and I definitely had it when the Dean called us in, but after that…"

He turned his head. "You were too drunk to remember?"

"Well… yeah."

"So you don't remember how you po…"

"I remember that!" Britta exclaimed, her face turning a little red. "God Abed, it's a little embarrassing, can you not bring it up?"

"I don't see why it's a big deal. It's not uncommon for overly drunk people to…"

"Is that you not bringing it up?"

"Sorry. I don't know what happened to your other pants. You'd have to ask Elroy."

And so Britta found herself making the trip to Greendale on her first school-sanctioned day off in five years. Elroy had taken up 'permanent' residence in the parking lot, after the Dean had rezoned the disabled parking spots so that the Winnebago wouldn't be towed.

She dodged the swarms of cars looking for a spot, and knocked quickly on the door. Elroy answered wearing the same dressing gown he'd had on last night… this morning?

"Britta. I hope this is worth interrupting my nap."

He didn't look like he'd just woken up, so Britta peered around him into the small space. "I was hoping you had some idea about where my phone is."

"Yours is the Totorola? Interesting brand, can't see it taking off here."

"How did you… Have you been going through my phone?"

He gestured for her to come inside. "Not the information, the technology. It's an interesting piece of engineering – completely unstable and practically worthless in a functional sense, but interesting nonetheless."

His table was covered in a pile of disassembled electronic devices – phones, tablets, old circuit boards, even a pager. "Can I have it back?" she asked cautiously.

"Oh sure. I've made some improvements, if you don't mind. It should catch on fire a little less now." He handed over the phone.

"That's nice, I guess. But in the future, let me know if you're going to take my stuff."

"Sure thing. Oh, and can you give this one back to Annie? She left it on the table this morning."

Sure, he didn't pull Annie's phone apart. Stupid iPhone that costs two months' worth of pay.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

And that was that. Now she could head home and catch up on some sleep. She started to make her way back to her car, that she'd parked a couple of blocks down the street. Boy, Annie would be freaking out without her phone. All of her to-do lists are saved on there, and she likes to keep in contact with…

Everyone. All the people she knows. No. That would be bad. Very bad. There are lines you don't cross, and snooping through someone's text history was one of those. Definitely. Although, secretly hanging out with your friend's estranged parents was one of those lines too, and that hadn't stopped Annie. And eye for an eye right? Britta was entitled to one massive breach of trust too.

She already knew Annie's passcode – 1990. Not exactly foolproof, but Annie didn't use her phone for anything secure anyway. Settings, no. To Do List, no. Bejeweled, no. Messages. Here we go.

Compared to Britta's contact list, Annie's was enormous. STAPLES – trust Annie to have a school supplies company saved on her phone. Hmm, Rich…

_ -Had fun dredging the lake, maybe we can catch up at school some time?_

_ Sent: Jan 4, 2011_

So not Rich. Fat Neil? Surely not.

_-You two able to make it to the game this weekend?_

_ Sent: Mar 21, 2015_

_ -Yes, Abed can't make it but we'll be there. Did you confirm Hickey yet?_

_ Sent: Mar 22, 2015_

Ha! Annie was still playing D&amp;D with Fat Neil. And so was Abed apparently, and a third person. It wouldn't be Jeff, he thought the whole game was even sillier than Britta did. Maybe the boyfriend?

It was probably worth a check through Annie's messages to Jeff. Just for curiosity.

_ -Britta knows about parents, she's freaking out. What do we do?_

_ Sent: Mar 17 2015_

Hmm. Annie obviously didn't keep in much contact with Jeff outside the group. Good for her.

Which brought Britta to the most obvious contact – the one she probably should have started with: Guy with the Abs. That had to be the boyfriend, right? And Britta would need to have a word with Jeff about passing his shallow naming system on to Annie.

Britta's eyes widened as she read through the texts. This was not the kind of stuff she had been expecting to find on Annie Edison's phone. This was weirdly arousing and... Gross! Nope! Looking away!

She quickly flicked through the remaining messages, looking for any names, hints, anything. It wasn't all sexting – a lot of it was organizing dates (including playing D&amp;D, hah!) and just general conversation. Nothing that would help with working out who the guy was – well, beyond the fact that he had abs, and that wasn't really that helpful. Trust Annie to work too hard at keeping a secret.

She locked the phone and put it back in her pocket and headed back to her car. That was enough snooping for one day, and she really wanted to get back to sleep.

Britta managed another three hours before Annie got home, looking a little flustered. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her phone on the kitchen counter, and went to check it. That was when she turned suspiciously to Britta.

"Britta. Why are my messages open?"

"Oh, um… I. Don't know?"

"Did you steal my phone!?"

Britta panicked a little. Angry Annie was terrifying. "No, no! Elroy did, or at least, he picked it up where you left it. I went to get mine back from him, and he gave me yours too."

"And what, you decided to go through my texts? How'd you even get into the phone?"

Abed's door opened. "I told you, a four digit pass code isn't secure, especially when you're using your birth year as a code."

Annie was fuming now. "That is _so_ not the point right now. How am I supposed to trust you when you go through my private stuff at the first chance you get?"

"Well how am I supposed to trust _you_ when you hang out with my parents for years without telling me!?"

She breathed heavily as Annie's face fell. "Britta…"

Britta walked over to her pullout and sat down, staring straight out the window.

Abed and Annie both approached carefully. "You know we didn't mean to hurt you with that, right?" Annie said.

Britta shrugged.

"We were trying to find the best solution for everyone, including you. I guess we got so caught up in it that after a while we didn't even think about how everything coming out would affect you."

"It just sucks, you know? I thought we'd all shared everything. Back when we did that polygraph, we were supposed to air all of our secrets. Wait, how come Pierce didn't use that to piss me off?"

"We never told Pierce, or Troy. They're both terrible at keeping secrets, and Pierce was already rich anyway. He wouldn't have understood." Abed replied.

It actually made Britta feel better to know that Troy hadn't been lying to her all through… whatever they had been doing.

"And we're sorry we didn't tell you then. But honestly, it would have been even worse coming on the back of all that other crap."

Britta sighed. "I guess. It's just going to take me a while to get over it."

Abed and Annie both nodded.

"Sure."

"Take as much time as you need."

* * *

Annie retreated to her room. Britta was a little more cut up about her trust in them than she had thought. The longer she and Jeff waited to tell Britta, the harder it would be, but telling her now could break her. It was going to be a delicate balancing act to find the right time.

And it was lucky she'd decided to split her regular-Jeff texts from her relationship-Jeff texts in her phone, or this afternoon could have gone very differently. She'd made him do the same just in case of situations like these. She'd been pleased when he'd chosen 'Girl with the Eyes' to identify her over her... other features, even if it was maybe a little obvious. He'd been going on about her eyes since first year.

She quickly messaged Jeff – correction, she messaged Guy with the Abs – about what had just happened, and then crawled into bed. Not that she hadn't spent the last couple of hours in bed anyway, but she needed some solid sleep to make up for all the time she'd lost this morning. Trying to sleep at 3pm wasn't an easy task, but when Annie put her mind to something, it got done. And telling Britta would be no exception.


End file.
